Sexy Lips turns 34 today! ... This is his second start this season at Yankee Stadium. In Boston's win on April 29, he pitched five innings, allowing three hits and three runs.

Mike Lowell is 7-for-14 against Mussina and Coco Crisp is 8-for-20.

Hideki Okajima's scoreless streak of 20.2 innings is the longest for a Sox lefty since Bruce Hurst threw 21.2 in May 1987. ... When they score at least five runs, the Red Sox are 23-0. ... When Boston leads after six innings, they are 22-1.

150 comments:

I see where Tim posted #200 comment on the last game thread. Shall we go for 250 tonight?

Tough match up tonight. Mussina has a 1.17 WHIP at Yankee stadium and is 6 and 4 in 14 starts vs the Sox. 10 of those starts were quality starts. However he has been struggling this year. He would struggle more if he didn't have an automatic out in Varitek.

For some reason though I have a feeling that Tavarez will go nuts tonight and pitch a very good game. 2 hrs 27 minutes till first pitch.

Sean - Look at that as an opportunity to see something different from the Sox this year. That just makes you special!

From the Sox press release for today's game:JULIAN TAVAREZ is 34 today…The last ML pitcher to start and win on his birthday was the Dodgers’ Derek Lowe on June 1, 2006 vs.Philadelphia…Last Sox pitcher to both start and to win on his birthday was Josh Beckett, May 15, 2006 at Baltimore.

The FIRST pro-baseball pitcher to win on his or her birthday was the Boston Red Stockings' (now the Atlanta Braves) Al Spalding, who beat the Cleveland Forest Citys, 31-10, on his 21st birthday, September 2nd, 1871.

(At least he's the first with an actual birthdate listed.)

Maybe, if Tavarez wins tonight, all baseballs, someday, will bear the Tavarez name.

YES! Apologies about yesterday guys - I had to give a talk and was therefore unable to wear my clearly-lucky-against-the-Yankees Papelbon shirt. So, sorry about that. It's on today, and so far, working great. :)

Damn, so pissed off...im stealing wireless at a coffee pub in waterloo, with the hope of watching my slingbox when it turns out theres a problem back home with the satellite connected to the slingbox - 0% signal! looks like its MLB.com gameday for me :-(

Jackie-Just because you had a talk doesn't mean you couldn't have the shirt on underneath. When the Sox hit October and I have my pathetic, gnarly, patchy Playoff Beard (redsock and all other males better do it too), I won't shave it if I have a major presentation.

it's not a beard, it's a playoff beard. It brings the team good luck, and shows solidarity with everyone else. You'll be walking down the street in Toronto and see someone else with a B on his cap and a horrible attempt at stubble, and there'll be a connection.

Celtics with the #5 pick. I'm speechless. Is there any sport (besides hockey) that's less deserving of a fan base than the modern NBA? What logic is there in the worst teams not getting the highest picks?

Funny about the days of the week thing earlier--before I saw that, I saw something about our record on Sundays at empyrealenvirons, and I checked the sked to see we're 7-0 on Thursdays. So, um, there are plenty of nerds here.

Rodriguez slid past the bag, then leaned over and shoved Pedroia. Rodriguez always does things in the cheapest and weakest ways possible. He could've tried slamming into Brandon in the ALCS, but instead just slapped at his hand. He could've gone full-on hard into Pedroia, but he shoves him.

Speaking of which, was there any talk of Ortiz' headfirst slide into second yesterday (the play on which Jeter dropped the ball)? It looked like Ortiz may have thrown a shoulder. The ball was dropped just prior to the collision, so Ortiz didn't cause it, but was it considered at all dirty?

"is there anything more satisfying than winning by striking out jeter?"

Yes, striking him out looking. My girlfriend and I were hoping for it specifically, and we got it. You know it's gonna be fun if if he K's looking because he thinks every pitch he doesn't swing at is a ball. And that's just what happened--and to end a game it's even better.

I guess it was the high pitch counts, 3-2s on so many batters, and 8 freaking walks. I mean, walking 8 people and winning is a really good sign.

Also, when Okaji and Paps struggle a little bit, it can get scary. Now, don't get me wrong, I'll take struggling to mean 1 run over 2 innings, but still.

If we take 2 out of 3 tomorrow... that is gigantically huge. Either way, at most we lose 1 game on them, with the Yankees having the pitching matchup well in their favor, and with our #5 picking up the victory.

Another one who found that game tense... my brain knows we're way ahead (both in the standings and on the scoreboard) but my gut remains ill informed. The past few years have conditioned me to respond a certain way to the Yankees. I don't know what it is, but I just get more anxious when we play the Bad Guys, no matter what the context.

I had the pleasure of watching the game from about 25 rows behind home plate tonight, and I was very happy to hear on at least 6 different occasions Yankees fans were talking about the upcoming football season.

Man, I wish I was... Some friends and I were supposed to go but ringleader friend failed on the ticket purchace. Now I'm reduced to hoping my slingbox works so I can watch the game on my phone while running lights for a dance show. I expect I'll probably end up on a bench near Columbus Circle - done with work but unwilling to go into the subway and lose my stream of the game, just like tonight.